Book 2 in the Vancouver Storm Series
Reviewed by CJ | Rating: 4.5/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
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⚠️ This is a full spoiler review. If you haven’t read The Fake Out yet — go read it first. We’ll be here when you’re done.
OPENING HOOK
I’ve read this book three times through the years, and it’s not even my favourite one in this series, so that should tell you everything about how good I think this series is. The Fake Out itself is so, so good.
THE FULL STORY — SPOILERS INCLUDED
Okay so we already know Pippa and Jamie from book one. Pippa’s older sister Hazel is a physiotherapist for the Vancouver Storm, and she’s got history with Rory, Jamie’s high school best friend turned current nemesis. Rory has been in love with Hazel since she tutored him back in the day, and he has always just adored her. Unfortunately through those years Hazel was dating Connor, a dickhead hockey player, who cheated on her and pretty much destroyed her ability to trust anyone who plays hockey ever again.
Fast forward to now: Rory just got traded to the Storm, but the guy can’t catch a break because so did Connor. To keep Connor from harassing Hazel, she and Rory decide to fake date. Which works out great for everyone, especially Rory who gets to spend time with the girl he’s loved forever. Hazel gets to keep her distance from Connor’s ick, and the two of them get to pretend this is all strategic despite starting to feel all the things we as readers are rooting for.
Rory is a golden retriever, cinnamon bun of a man. He’s a big flirt, constantly teasing her, exasperating in the best way, and the banter had me laughing through the entire book. You can absolutely see where this is going from a mile away and it does not matter one little bit. Underneath the fake dating is a real, slow build of feelings, and Rory does this beautiful thing where he actually pays attention to who Hazel is, not just who she pretends to be.
Hazel’s got a lot going on underneath the physio scrubs. Her mom was a ballerina who never got her big break, and when she got pregnant with Hazel her professional dance career stopped there. Her mom taught classes for years but never felt good about herself or what she was doing, and now thinks she’s too old and too fat to do something as simple as join a yoga class, even though she’s beautiful. Hazel looks so much like her mother that every time her mom says something awful about herself, Hazel can’t help wondering if her mom feels that way about her too. That’s such a raw and real kind of heartbreak, and it colours Hazel’s whole relationship with her body and her dream of opening a body-positive yoga studio.
Rory doesn’t fix any of that for her, but he does show up for her while she figures it out, and he calls her a fierce fire-breathing dragon, even buying her a little stone dragon statue for when he’s away on the road (he secretly buys himself a matching one to take with him). He’s so dreamy.
Plus we get Pippa and Hazel’s dad back from book one, still fangirling hard over the team, and it’s just as delightful this time around.
BEST PART OF THIS BOOK
The dragon statues. It’s such a small detail but it says everything about who Rory is underneath all the flirting. He shows up for her quietly, just as much as he does openly and there is something so deeply moving about seeing a man unapologetically in love like that.
WORST PART OF THIS BOOK
This isn’t really a criticism of the book, but the hardest part to read was Hazel’s relationship with her mom and how it shaped her self-image and her ambitions. It’s not that it shouldn’t be there, but that it’s so real. I think most people (women especially) know exactly what it feels like to have that voice in your head telling you things that aren’t true but feel real anyway. Archer wrote that with a lot of care.
THE STEAM RATING BREAKDOWN
🔥🔥🔥 — Warm. There’s a fair bit of spice here and it’s good, but it’s not the most explicit book you’ll pick up this year. The romance is central to the plot and this is a fake-dating-to-real-feelings book through and through. The chemistry carries most of the story, and I think that’s what makes it so good.
Content note: there’s discussion of body image and what reads like body dysmorphia around Hazel’s mom, so go in aware of that if it’s a sensitive topic for you.
THE ENDING — SATISFIED OR DISAPPOINTED?
Fully satisfied. It goes exactly where you want it to and doesn’t drag getting there.
A MOMENT THAT STOOD OUT
Rory buying himself a matching dragon statue. I did not move on from this easily.
THE CHARACTER WE LOVED TO HATE
Connor. The ick follows him from book to book and I am fully on board with it.
WOULD WE REREAD IT?
Already have — twice. And I’ll probably do it again.
WHO IS THIS FOR
Any romance reader, but especially if you love hockey romance — this series is a must-read. It stands alone fine, but it’s even better once you’ve read book one.
WHERE TO GET THIS BOOK
📖 Physical Book
Amazon CA | Amazon US | Bookshop.org
🎧 Audiobook
Audible CA | Audible US
🎁 New to Audible? Get 3 months free (US)
🎁 New to Libro.fm? Get 2 free audiobooks
📚 More from the Vancouver Storm Series
Book 1 — Behind the Net | Reviewed by CJ | ⭐ 4/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥 | Read the Review
Book 2 — The Fake Out | Reviewed by CJ | ⭐ 4.5/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥 — you’re reading it!
Book 3 — The Wingman | Reviewed by CJ | ⭐ 5/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥| Read the Review
Book 4 — Gloves Off | Reviewed by CJ | ⭐ 3.5/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥| Coming Soon
Book 5 — The Wild Card | Reviewed by CJ | ⭐ 4.5/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥| Coming Soon
Ready for more reviews from CJ? Find More Here
Plot Twisted. 🔥
📖 | Series: Vancouver Storm Book 2 | Genre: Romance | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
TAGS: Hockey Romance, Sports Romance, Fake Dating, Friends to Lovers, Contemporary Romance, Vancouver Storm Series, Stephanie Archer